One option for people who want to avoid a drawn out, adversarial divorce is mediation. In divorce mediation, you have one person, your mediator, who helps you and your soon to be ex-spouse work out a mutually acceptable agreement. This option is ideal for individuals who have relatively straight forward decisions to make and who are in general agreement about how to split assets and arrange custody issues.
Another option for individuals who feel that they need someone to look out for their interests, or who have more complicated financial lives, is a traditional divorce. In a traditional divorce, each party has his or her own lawyer, who is looking out for his or her best interests, and who is essentially ready to negotiate to get the best "deal." This arrangement can lead to the drawn out, costly battles that many of us associate with divorce.
A third option is a collaborative divorce. Collaborative divorce is essentially a new paradigm for divorce. In collaborative divorce, the couple agrees not to go to court. Instead, solutions are reached through non-adversarial negotiations with the assistance of a team of professionals. The team consists of a financial analyst, two divorce coaches, a child specialist, and two lawyers. This can seem like a lot of professionals, however, the aim is to give the divorcing couple assistance from professionals trained in specific areas, which tends to streamline the process. The divorce coaches are available to help couples process the emotional issues that often impede the divorce process and which sometimes get acted out financially or with the children.
If your would like more information about collaborative divorce or divorce coaching, feel free to call me or you can visit www.collaborativepractice.com/ .
